State Senate: Take tax debts from lottery prizes

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The West Virginia Senate has passed a bill that would allow the state tax department to confiscate the prizes of lottery winners who are delinquent on their taxes.

The bill passed unanimously Tuesday would allow the lottery director to take any winnings that are owed in back taxes and forward them directly to the state tax department. If a prize is larger than the amount owed, the tax department would only take a portion of the prize.

It also authorizes the tax department to share tax information with the lottery director for the purposes of determining what is owed.

The bill would become effective in 2014 and would not apply to lottery prizes won this year.